'Impeach' Spelled Out In Science Envoy's Trump Resignation

A scientist working for the U.S. Department of State in the Science Envoy Program submitted his resignation in a letter that spelled out ‘impeach’ in an acrostic with the first letter of every paragraph. Daniel Kammen, a scientist at the University of California in Berkely, tweeted the announcement Wednesday.

“Mr. President, I am resigning as Science Envoy. Your response to Charlottesville enables racism, sexism, & harms our country and planet,” Kammen wrote on Twitter with an attachment of a picture of his resignation letter.

Kammen referred specifically to the president’s response this month to violence in Charlottesville, Virginia. Neo-Nazis and white supremacists descended on the Virginia town for a rally to protest the planned removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Small clashes became a flash point when a man with alleged white-supremacist ties slammed a car into counter-protesters, killing one woman and injuring at least 19.

President Donald Trump condemned violence “on many sides” in a statement after the event and referred to the clashes between neo-Nazis and white supremacists and counter-protesters. Trump’s creation of a moral equivalence between the two groups received widespread criticism. He also did not condemn white supremacists by name in his original statement.

In response to the criticism, Trump made a full-throated condemnation of white supremacy on Aug. 14.

“Racism is evil. And those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans,” said Trump.

The next day Trump reversed course and doubled down on his original statement.

“What I'm saying is this: You had a group on one side and you had a group on the other and they came at each other with clubs and it was vicious and horrible. And it was a horrible thing to watch,” said Trump in a press conference on infrastructure. “But there is another side. There was a group on this side, you can call them the left. You have just called them the left, that came violently attacking the other group. So you can say what you want, but that's the way it is.”

Trump during the press conference and in later tweets attacked the media, defended people protesting the removal of the statue (many of them neo-Nazis and white supremacists) and fought against the removal of statues of Confederate leaders. Noted white supremacist David Duke thanked the president for his comments.

In a rally in Phoenix on Tuesday, Trump read his initial statement on Charlottesville, omitting the “on many sides” caveat. He again defended himself.

Kammen, who studies renewable energy, pointed to the president’s overall response to Charlottesville as the reason he was quitting.

“Your failure to condemn white supremacists and neo-Nazis has domestic and international ramifications,” Kammen wrote. “Particularly troubling to me is how your response to Charlottesville is consistent with a broader pattern of behavior that enables sexism and racism.

The letter also critiqued Trump for his decision to pull out of the Paris Climate Accord.